High-Quality Pork—Precision Farming Award Submission Information

MSD Animal Health, a division of Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, N.J., USA, has opened submissions for the 2020 High-Quality Pork—Precision Farming Award, a new award which will grant one project up to $200,000 towards implementation with an interested customer in the swine industry. This year’s award builds on MSD Animal Health’s tradition of recognizing outstanding achievements in pig farming.

The High-Quality Pork—Precision Farming Award is created to support our customers who share our interest in advancing pig farming and the health and well-being of animals through technological innovations.

Eligible candidate projects must be a legal entity, company, startup, university or research group. The project must be an applied project in Precision Farming in pigs, with a demonstrated proof of concept and business model, if available. The project leader must be available to present in a virtual meeting with other candidates in a 20-minute session, with 10 minutes presentation and 10 minutes for questions.

Topics of interest include:

  1. Animal Health, including biosecurity, animal monitoring, and treatment devices;
  2. Facilities, including sensors, cameras, feeding devices, and weight control;
  3. Management, including production and reproduction software, welfare, behavior, sorters, and counters;
  4. Genetics and Reproduction;
  5. Human Resources, including labor efficiency, work environment improvement, and work performance;
  6. Data Mining, including big data, predictive and prescriptive algorithms, and artificial intelligence.

How to apply

To apply, eligible candidates must submit a 300-word summary of their research project, a concise (max 300 words) letter describing why they deserve the award, a five-minute creative video about their project, and two referral letters from a third-party entity (a company, university, research center or swine producer).

Applications can be sent to this email address and must be submitted by 31 October 2020.

The winner will be notified before the end of 2020. The project will be executed during 2021 with an interested customer.